


before the future unravels around us, please remember who i used to be

by dal_segno



Series: tokyo ghoul but make it minron. [2]
Category: NU'EST
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Anteiku Café (Tokyo Ghoul), Bad vibes, Cannibalism, Corpses, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dead People, Everything in Tokyo Ghoul is a Tragedy SMH, Jealousy, Kagune (Tokyo Ghoul), Kakugan (Tokyo Ghoul), M/M, Major Character Injury, Non-Graphic Violence, Organ Transplantation, Stabbing, Surgery, Tokyo Ghoul Spoilers, Vomiting, beta read (by me) but we still die like aron's/kaneki's humanity lol, mentions of vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29021121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dal_segno/pseuds/dal_segno
Summary: “I don’t see how interesting a story with me, a university student who happens to be a bookworm, as the protagonist would be, Minhyun-ah.”“But for argument’s sake…” Minhyun’s fox eyes gleam with curiosity. Aron lets out a dramatic sigh before plastering a shaky smile on his face.“If you were to write a story with me in the lead role, it would certainly be…”A tragedy.
Relationships: Hwang Minhyun & Aaron Kwak | Aron, Hwang Minhyun/Aaron Kwak | Aron
Series: tokyo ghoul but make it minron. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120940
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	before the future unravels around us, please remember who i used to be

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Back with another Tokyo Ghoul MinRon fic! This is a prequel to [ "our fate is a twisted labryinth maze" ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28855935), where Aron's story is explained from the very beginning-- just like in the original TG series! The title's a modified lyric from [ "unravel" ](https://open.spotify.com/track/0GLyqTysS0DFoeKjURtB8s?si=--H51bTuT76KMJHhxJmKhQ), TG's iconic opening song. As always, there's footnotes for TG terms if you're not familiar with the series. 
> 
> All mistakes are mine. Heed the warnings in the tags, and I hope you enjoy!

“Hyung,” a man with light brown hair hums, “You like stories and writing, right?”

Aron huffs out a small laugh. “I’m an English major, Minhyun-ah,” he says, not really answering the younger’s question. Minhyun sticks his lips out into an infuriating pout. The kind that can make Aron cave in instantly.

“Fine, of course I do.” Minhyun flips a few pages in his journal before looking up at Aron’s face. He points his pen at Aron. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was wondering,” the music student muses out loud, “about the kind of story you’d like to make if you were the protagonist, hyung.” Aron stifles a laugh behind his hand, not wanting to offend Minhyun. What a ridiculous question. Then again, Minhyun  _ is _ the definition of ridiculous at times like this. 

Doesn’t mean that Aron wants to  _ not _ answer Minhyun though: it’s a pretty interesting question after all, one Aron hadn’t considered until this point.

He takes a while to answer Minhyun. Hitting a dead end, he decides to just voice out his disappointment. “I don’t see how interesting a story with me, a university student who happens to be a bookworm, as the protagonist would be, Minhyun-ah.”

“But for argument’s sake…” Minhyun’s fox eyes gleam with curiosity. Aron lets out a dramatic sigh before plastering a shaky smile on his face.

“If you were to write a story with me in the lead role, it would certainly be…”

**_A tragedy._ **

-

“The surgery went well,” Aron hears just before the door closes.

Aron opens his eyes to a stark white ceiling. Bright and harsh lights short-circuit his sight for a moment. All kinds of machines are beeping in unison beside him, filling the quiet air. A small succulent on Aron’s bedside is the only other colour in the room. Squinting, Aron can see a note under it, its letters far too small for him to discern with blurry eyes and a massive headache.

Falling back on the bed with a quiet  _ oof _ , Aron picks up the pieces of his memory scattered across the depths of his mind. Fragments of voices sound in his head, most of them familiar to his worn-out brain. There’s flashes of red and gray in some memories; violet and a soft brown in others. A few more moments of prodding at Aron’s head pass before he decides against finding more. The memories clearly didn’t want to present themselves right now (Aron suspects trauma, considering he’s in the hospital) so he’ll have to wait for them to come on their own.

Ruffling his black hair absentmindedly, Aron finds himself bored. Hospitals were always boring to him. Everyone else said they were frightening or places of death— Aron merely thought of hospitals as places where everybody eventually ends up. Nothing ever stuck out to Aron in a hospital for him to ever describe it as anything other than  _ boring _ .

Except this creepy fucker with a smile that is anything but friendly in front of Aron.

“Hello,” the fucker— doctor, judging from his coat and stethoscope around his neck— says, “Good day, Mr. Kwak.”

Aron’s lips form a thin line. He contemplates on either blowing up entirely on the doctor (who is very, very creepy) or staying silent. Well, for what it’s worth, this man must’ve saved Aron’s life. It would be impolite to throw obscene words at him, that’s for sure. Besides, Aron didn’t have the energy to do it anyway. He keeps silent, merely gesturing for the doctor to continue.

“I see,” the doctor mumbles, “Are you not feeling very well, Kwak-ssi?”

“Aron. Just call me Aron.”

“Very well. I’m Doctor Han. Han Sungsoo.”

The patient bites his tongue to stop himself from saying anything awful to Han-ssi. Though he may not like this man one bit, he supposes he should be respectful. He nods half-heartedly before attempting to speak again. “So, what happened to me? I can’t seem to remember anything.”

Han hums to himself instead of answering Aron’s questions. Checking something on his clipboard, he tuts and faces Aron again. “You must’ve had memory loss from the trauma, Aron. Whether temporary or otherwise, I’m not sure. Last night must have been very hard for you and your body.”

Then in that instant, Aron’s head feels like it’s been sliced open. His eyes start watering, blurring the world even more than before. Bile rises from Aron’s stomach to his throat, threatening to spill all over his crisp sheets. Memories fly past his eyes in a flurry of colours. There’s so many people in the room, though Aron doesn’t know which ones are real and which ones are fragments of his memories. His left eye tenses and throbs in time with his erratic heartbeat. Chest constricting, Aron can barely breathe, and he’s already heaving for air.

-

_ “You have a crush,” Minhyun says without beating around the bush. He slams a heavy textbook onto the table, startling nearby patrons and sending droplets of Aron’s coffee flying. Some of it splashes on his face, though most land on the cover of his brand new novel. The older man glares half-heartedly at the culprit who only shrugs. _

_ “And you’re jealous,” Aron retorts. It’s neither a confirmation or a denial, but he knows Minhyun’s smart enough to know which of the two it is. Reaching for a paper towel to wipe his face, he notices how Minhyun’s scarlet ears betray his intentions. Aron reaches for the other’s hand to take into his own. It fits as perfectly as it usually does. _

_ Minhyun huffs. “Who is it then? Must be someone from the cafe— since you keep coming here every week.” _

_ The music student barely gives Aron time to answer before he continues to deduce who Aron’s crush could be. “Can’t be the waitress over there, way too stiff for you. Or that guy with glasses: too cold.” _

_ “Minhyun—” _

_ “Got it!” _

_ Aron blinks once. Then multiple times in a second. “You what?” _

_ In very embarrassing Minhyun fashion, he points a slender finger to the entrance of the cafe, catching a woman with violet hair off-guard. Her eyes widen in confusion before she eventually decides that she’d be better off not asking. She smiles at Aron, which sends a fiery blush across his face— much to Minhyun’s (poorly masked) disappointment. The warmth of Minhyun’s fingers slip away, though Aron barely notices; his attention is fixed on the woman and her unusual beauty. _

_ Minhyun’s next words never quite reach his ears the same as her smile. _

-

_ “Are you asking me on a date, Aron?” _

_ “Unless you’re opposed to it…?” He tries to hide the blush spreading on his face like wildfire, to no avail. Pale hands with black nailpolish remove Aron’s hands currently stuck on his face. Her giggles make his heart race and pound against his ribcage. Aron’s terrified his heart might just fall out of his chest and jump into her hands. _

_ “I never said I never wanted it,” she says with the twirl of her purple hair. “So yes, I’ll go on a date with you, Aron.” _

_ When Minhyun hears of it from an Aron who keeps stumbling on his words, he smiles and promises Aron he’ll make sure he looks dashing on the date. Minhyun’s warnings and concerns fall on deaf ears. _

-

_ “What’s your deal?” Aron spits out one day. He’s tired of all the looks Minhyun gives him when he talks about the woman with violet hair. The brown-haired man crouches to the floor, probably to seem less intimidating. Or to cover the expression on his face. He knows Aron doesn’t like it when he sees Minhyun upset; but he can’t help it this time. _

_ “My deal,” Minhyun hisses from his position beside Aron, “is that she seems fishy. I don’t know how exactly. But she didn’t pass my vibe check.” _

_ “I didn’t take you for the jealous type.” Aron scoffs in unbelief at Minhyun’s words. “I thought it was just a joke at first, but it’s not cute now. Stop it.” _

_ The taller man unfurls until he’s standing a head higher than Aron. He takes Aron by the shoulders, firmly gripping them as if the other would disappear if he didn’t hold on. “Do you hear yourself, hyung?! I just have a really bad feeling about that woman. Please, just stay back with me this once.” _

_ “And if I don’t?” _

_ Minhyun’s gaze moves away from Aron. “I... can’t stop you, Aron.” _

_ He takes a few steps backwards, never taking his fox eyes from the foreigner. There’s a slight sparkle from his eyes.  _ Tears _ , Aron’s brain supplies him. Every nerve on Aron’s body flares, telling him to reach out to Minhyun and take him up on his offer to stay at the dorms and watch cheesy American movies like they do every Saturday night. But he doesn’t. His arms stay stuck to his sides, as if made of lead. His legs are no better: numb and unmoving. _

_ “Now, don’t worry about your best friend and go get your girl!” _

Minhyun’s face looks so pretty when he cries _ , Aron thinks. _

-

_ Minhyun was right. _

_ Of course he is. _

_ “Did you really think I liked you?” The woman with violet hair cackles as she strikes Aron with a ruby muscle. Kagune1— that’s what the ghoul investigators called them on TV. _

_ Aron can’t say anything. If he tried, more blood would just spill from his mouth, and he isn’t planning on dying yet. Plus, if he talks about his “betrayal”, he’s sure it would feed into her sadistic ego. Kwak won’t give her the satisfaction; he bites his bottom lip to suppress a shout. _

_ “You’re so boring,” she mumbles under her breath. She takes her kagune out of Aron’s leg so she can stab him in the stomach. “You were so feisty arguing with your  _ best friend _. Thought you’d have some sort of fight in you.” _

_ At the mention of his best friend, Aron makes the mistake of looking up with shaking eyes. He can’t see clearly— his glasses were ripped from his face— but he’s sure the ghoul2 in front of him has a twisted expression on her face. Great, now he’s endangered Minhyun too. _

Way to go _ , Aron tells himself. If this ghoul doesn’t kill him, he knows Minhyun will happily finish the job. _

_ Silver flashes before Aron’s eyes before they crush him (and hopefully, the ghoul) entirely. _

-

“Kwak-ssi looks to be stirring, Hwang-ssi.”

Aron lets out a soft groan, signaling to whoever was talking that he is indeed waking. His head weighs heavy on his neck even as it’s set on the soft pillow. Cracking an eye open, the world swirls around Aron in a flurry of shapes and colours.

One of them being the softest brown he’s ever seen in his life.

It stops a centimetre or so from his face. Minhyun.

“You almost got eaten by a ghoul, hyung.” The younger man pinches Aron’s cheeks with freezing hands. Doctor Han bows slightly before taking his cue to leave the room, but not before reminding Aron that he’ll have to take some medicine later. It’s silent as Aron tries to stop his head from aching.

“You sound disappointed that I’m still alive,” Aron settles on saying, hoping his words come off as light and playful. He’s never been one to take things seriously all that often.

Minhyun clicks his tongue in annoyance. “I’m relieved you’re alive, alright? Just disappointed that you never listened to me. I warned you, you know.”

“I just really liked her, I guess.” Aron brings a hand to his chin, rubbing it habitually. There’s a slight frown on Minhyun’s lips, but the man says nothing about Aron’s habit. Minhyun knows Aron’s lying through his teeth, he always does, yet decides to let it go for now. He just takes Aron’s hands into his own, bigger hands. It slides into place like it’s meant to. “I’m sorry, Minhyun. I hope I didn’t worry you too much.”

“I could die from the stress worrying about you, and I’d still worry if you ate properly that day.”

Minhyun doesn’t look at Aron after that. He stays silent through Aron’s brief check-up and as he tries to swallow the medicine. It tastes like grease and oil to Aron. The other man hums a tune to get him through it. A moment passes before Aron realises it’s their favourite song.

“널 찾으려 떠나왔던 머나먼 모험엔.”  _ Throughout the far and wide journey I took to find you. _

“넌 언제나 내 맘에 있었어.”  _ You were always in my heart. _

Aron joins the last chorus when the nurse leaves. His throat is a little raspy, but nothing that Minhyun won’t mind. 

“I’m turning back to you.”

The song is over after that. Minhyun speaks up again. Voice trembling and soft, it strikes Aron in an odd way. Not once has he heard Minhyun speak like this. But then again, there’s a first for everything.

“Let’s go home soon, hyung.”

-

“You see,” Doctor Han explains when Minhyun retires to their dorms for the night, at Aron’s insistence. “The surgery was made possible by Bae Joohyun-ssi, whose organs saved you, Aron.”

Aron swallows down a heavy lump in his throat. “Joohyun-ssi. What happened to her then?”

Han shakes his head in disappointment. A sliver of a smile presents itself on his lips, before it’s replaced by a grim frown. Goosebumps flare across Aron’s arms; he doesn’t like this doctor one bit.

“I’m afraid she didn’t make it. The steel beams damaged her body beyond repair. Fortunately, her life was not in vain.” The doctor’s beady eyes search Aron’s face for a reaction. Aron doesn’t give him the satisfaction— he keeps his face as neutral as possible.

“I’m sorry, were you two close?” Aron bites down on his lip.

“No,” he says simply. “Not at all.”

-

There’s a few things wrong with Aron.

One, he can’t eat a burger without vomiting it right after. This is proven when Aron’s stomach decided to throw his lunch right into the toilet seat of his and Minhyun’s favourite fast food place. It leaves Aron unable to stomach anything else, having no appetite for more food if he’s just going to end up throwing up the next second.

Two, his skin seems to be even stronger than before. And he’s always had pretty soft skin— prone to injuries if he so much as scraped his skin against paper. Aron was sure he chopped his finger off with the kitchen knife while slicing some carrots. Except, when he opened his eyes, his finger only had a light graze. Had the knife missed his hand? No, it couldn’t have: he felt the blade come in contact with the knuckle. 

He shrugs it off as a lucky coincidence.

Three, his left eye is completely black with a scarlet iris. Meanwhile, his right eye seems to be completely normal, being white and brown as it should be. This… this doesn’t mean what he thinks it is… right?

Aron raises his right hand to touch his reflection in the mirror. The figure moves in time with him, ruling out the theory that someone else is on the other side of the mirror. Bringing his glasses to his face, the black sclera and ruby iris continue to stare back at him. He then prods at his eye with some measly hope that it’s a full eye contact; he’s seen Minhyun try one of those for a cosplay, and Aron wants to believe that it’s a prank of the other man’s doing.

It’s not.

He hisses, retracting his hand away from his eye.

Fuck, it’s  _ real _ .

That—  _ thing  _ in the mirror, staring back at him, is his actual fucking  _ eye _ . No matter how many times Aron blinks, it stays black and red, veins throbbing slightly under it, while his right eye stays perfectly normal. His lips quiver, and so does the boy’s in the mirror.

Aron dashes out of the bathroom that’s become too small for his fear and finds himself in the living room. The dim lighting is a stark contrast to the blinding lights of the bathroom; it makes Aron’s sight swirl for a bit before he crashes onto the couch. Fumbling in the dark for his phone, Kwak searches up a few keywords on the search engine. He finds nothing for the first few searches, before deciding to search up “ghoul eyes” at last.

It’s a hit. Aron audibly gasps.

The Commission of Counter Ghoul3 seems to have a whole section on their official website dedicated to ghoul appearances. Probably to give people an idea of how those monsters look if they happen to encounter one. Aron scoffs at the idea of a poor human getting away from a ghoul with their life long enough to alert the CCG. Then he frowns, remembering  _ he _ got away with his life from a ghoul who was about to  _ kill _ him. He shakes his head, continuing to scroll through the website.

One section regarding ghoul biology reads: 

_ “ **Ghouls normally display the same attributes as humans; the same physical appearance and intelligence as a human with the main exception being their inner biology, mentality, and diet.** _

_**A major difference between ghouls and humans are their kagune— predatory organs that release from their backs, though a ghoul can use their kagune to protect themselves if it is strong enough. Ghouls also have an identifying feature known as a kakugan, an affliction manifesting in the eyes as red irises surrounded by a black sclera. However, most ghouls can control their use and appearance of their kagune and kakugan; making them look human and unsuspecting.”** _

There’s a hotline for the CCG under the remaining text, encouraging people to report sightings of ghouls whenever possible. It glows a bright blue into Aron’s eyes, as if taunting him. The most reasonable thing to do would be to turn himself to the investigators, but then what? Would they kill him? What would they do to Aron? What if Aron won’t be able to see Minhyun, his lifeline in this dreary world, ever again?

Fuck. There’s no easy way out of this.

Aron’s eyes (yes, even the damned  _ ghoul _ eye) overflow with tears. Whimpers begin to fall from his mouth regardless of his efforts to make himself shut up. He stays in a curled position on his couch for who-knows-how-long. Apparently it’s long enough when the sun glares at his poor soul the next morning.

Getting up at last, he checks his phone, finding Minhyun’s texts making up most of the notifications he got this morning. Aron figures he should tell the other about his new revelation but decides against it in the end, deleting all his words right after. No need to have Minhyun freak out when he can help it. He settles on telling a half-truth instead.

**_@optimushwang_ **

**_Hwang Minhyun - New East Uni_ **

**_Active Now_ **

hyung morning classes

just ended for me

hyung, are you ok :((

_ [10:53] _

**sorry for not responding**

**earlier minhyunah**

**i overslept**

**hope you didn’t**

**miss me too much**

_ [12:09] _

oh shut up

of course i missed you

_ [12:10] _

Aron doesn’t reply more than that. He’s far too busy examining the shattered steel on the floor to type a reply. His plan, though you could argue that it’s not much of a plan, was to stab himself with a knife wherever was convenient while talking to Minhyun, hoping it’ll distract him enough to go through with it. However, the metal broke upon coming in contact with his skin, confirming Aron’s suspicions.

He tugs at the thick curtains, willing them to block out the sunlight. Not wanting anyone to see him, he decides to go out. Doesn’t matter where; Aron just needs to leave his apartment. Locking the door twice and pulling his hoodie until he covers his eyes, Aron doesn’t look back. He’ll be back home as soon as figures shit out. But for now, he lets his legs carry him to a hill not far from the city, where Minhyun and him used to go stargazing.

He only hopes he doesn’t lose himself on the way.

-

In retrospect, Aron probably shouldn’t have walked right into the Shibuya Scramble. Hundreds of people are here, their fusing scents overwhelming Aron’s heightened sense of smell. 

Except for one distinct scent.

Aron runs from the Scramble and crowds to chase after the smell. It somehow reminds him of his mother’s cooking before she passed. Bringing back sad memories of his sisters and parents, Aron hopes that it’s something harmless he can eat. All rational thoughts fly out of his head in the moment.

Then his brain just stops working altogether when he enters the alleyway.

He almost throws up, which would have been successful if he had anything in his stomach to throw up in the first place.

_ I just thought a dead person smelled nice,  _ Aron thinks to himself, disgusted by the turn of events.  _ Someone who probably had a normal life, and I’m here drooling over their dead body. Great. _

“Ah.” The person in front of Aron looks up from the corpse. Fuck, it’s a ghoul, of course it is. “How dare you trespass on  _ my _ territory? Are you just  _ asking _ for death?”

Aron fumbles for words. “I— I didn’t know that this was your feeding ground! I’m truly sorry! I’ll get out of your way right now—” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before the ghoul grabs him by the neck and shoves him into a wall. Aron’s lungs are suddenly rid of air, and he can’t breathe.

“Now,” the ghoul growls, “You can’t just say sorry and run away like that. There’s consequences for trespassing, you know.”

Helpless to do anything, Aron closes his eyes, though his panic doesn’t go away. Then the ghoul releases him, and Aron brings his hands to his neck, nursing the growing bruise on it. There’s an odd look on the ghoul; one of disgust and curiosity, if Aron reads it right. And it clicks in his head.

“Yoon Jeonghan,” Aron breathes out, though it sounds more like a question than a statement.

Jeonghan pushes his blond hair out of his eyes. His black-and-red eyes pulse and gleam with mischievous intent as he scrutinises Aron. “Didn’t think you were a ghoul after all this time, Kwak-sunbae.” He kicks Aron’s side, making the upperclassman’s breath hitch in his throat. “And the fuck’s with your eye? Only one kakugan… And I was pretty sure you smelled like a human ever since I came to New East, so why?”

Aron laughs weakly, coughing as he does. “Would you believe me if I said I just turned into a ghoul today?” A pregnant silence lingers in the air, neither ghoul knowing what to say. It’s broken when a new voice joins the space, irritation clear in every syllable they speak.

“Yoon,” the new ghoul, a girl, says, “Get out. You know very well that this isn't your territory.”

“But the Binge-Eater— or whatever her name was— she’s dead, right?”

“Yeah, but Pleiades takes care of territories and shit, dumbass.” The girl, now identified as the stone-faced waitress from Pleiades, rolls her eyes and brings out her own kagune.  _ It’s beautiful _ , Aron thinks to himself. Vaguely resembling a butterfly wing with shards of glass, Aron is transfixed by the murder-organ for its beauty, despite it releasing shards right into Jeonghan’s shoulder blade. 

It does the trick: Jeonghan flees with empty threats directed at the waitress, or Im Nayoung as he hears from Jeonghan.

“You look like shit,” Nayoung deadpans as soon as Jeonghan leaves. Aron scratches his chin absentmindedly. “Oh wait. You’re that… human? The one who drinks your coffee black while your loud-ass friend drinks grapefruit ade?”

A cold drop of sweat falls off Aron’s chin. “Yeah, I mean, I used to be human.”

“That would explain the one kakugan; guess you had some freak put ghoul shit into you.” Nayoung’s trail of thought stops momentarily, her face morphing into a blank, stoney expression when she has nothing more to say. But then she bends down to the corpse (how did Aron just  _ forget _ it was there?) to snap off an arm. She holds it out to Aron, shaking it as if to tell him to just get it from her.

“You’re hungry,” the ghoul points out like Aron doesn’t know. “You won’t be able to keep your eye normal if you don't eat. Plus, you might just throw yourself onto someone else later on: basically a death sentence. So, eat.”

Aron only looks at the arm that drips with blood and other bodily fluids with an open mouth and what he thinks is a horrified emotion. He can’t— won’t just eat another human! Until today he had lived comfortably as a human who loved greasy American food. There’s just no fucking way he’s eating his own kind.

Although Aron’s mouth is literally  _ watering _ at the sight, his stomach lurches. He mutters a soft apology to Nayoung, saying he doesn’t know if he can actually eat it right now. Tears form in the corners of his eyes as he blinks furiously to stop them from falling. Aron can’t even bear to look at Nayoung’s face; he makes it a point to only look at his hands and ignore the red liquid near his feet.

The other ghoul says nothing to him as she eats the arm quietly. When only bones are left, she offers a clean hand to Aron.

“Come with me,” Nayoung says. Her blood-red eyes slowly lose their colour, leaving a natural brown iris and a white sclera in their place. An unsure smile plants itself on her face, as though she thinks she might regret this later on. “I know a place where you’ll be safe. Besides, the manager would have asked me to bring you there anyway if he knew you.”

“Where,” Aron manages to get out. He ignores the way his throat closes up.

Nayoung pulls down Aron’s hoodie so that it covers his eyes again, then she instructs him to close his active kakugan until they get there. Back out on the main streets bustling with people, she finally tells him where they’re going so late in the night.

“Pleiades Cafe,” she says, and nothing Aron could say would get anything more out of her.

So he follows her through the busy Tokyo streets, hoping he won’t lose the grip on her hand.

-

The following days after Aron’s sudden transformation are surprisingly calm— university’s still kicking his ass here and there, but he finds a sense of normalcy among the ghouls in Pleiades, something he never expected to happen.

You see, in the beginning, Aron was skittish to be around ghouls despite being a (half-)ghoul himself. His hands shook every time he tried to pour coffee into a porcelain cup, and he could barely wrap his head around all these code-words for ghouls. 

Doves, quinques, wards. Aron has a small notepad to write down things from time to time.

Nayoung actually teased him for his sanity holding by a single thread before she realised that Aron had taken it to heart and started bawling on the storage room floor. She hadn’t shouted at him at all the next day, to Aron’s silent victory.

And today was supposed to be just like any other day, until Minhyun walked in, ordering his usual grapefruit ade with a reserved smile on his face. He doesn’t even look fazed at Aron being the one at the counter preparing his drinks. Just smiles and asks Aron to sit with him when his shift ends.

Nayoung and another server— Wonwoo, Aron learned— glare daggers his way. They don’t say much but Aron knows their nudges are warning enough. The red-haired ghoul already warned Aron of coming in contact with humans who might harm Pleiades, their safe spot, saying that she’ll personally take him out if Minhyun somehow endangers them all. Aron doesn’t doubt the threat one bit, so he ends his shift to talk to Minhyun.

It goes just about as expected, as if following some invisible script perfectly. Nothing out of place presents itself on Minhyun’s pretty face (to Aron’s relief) and it feels almost normal. Almost. Aron grimaces at the steel frame incident, then waves it off as the coffee scalding his tongue. For a moment, Minhyun looks unconvinced before he accepts the lie with a sigh.

“Hyung,” he says when the conversation lulls, “Are you sure you’re okay? You know, with the surgery and all.” Unspoken words accompany Minhyun’s question, though Aron can’t quite decipher them properly.

“I’m fine, Minhyun,” comes the half-truth, half-lie. Aron struggles to keep his hand on the coffee cup to stop his habit from acting up. “Doctor Han already took care of the bills and stuff. And I’m recovering well! You don’t need to worry about little ‘ole me, Hyunnie.”

Minhyun’s lips press together into a thin line. “You know I didn’t mean that, hyung. Come on; be honest with me?” The younger man raises his right hand to Aron’s eyes (or eye, since the other one’s under an eyepatch) and pulls down all other fingers, except for his pinkie. A promise. A promise Aron can’t fulfill without jeopardizing Pleiades and the ghouls around him.

Still, he takes his own pinkie finger— the left one— to hook around Minhyun’s.

“I swear I’m alright, Minhyun,” the half-ghoul forces out. As an afterthought, he added, “You don’t need to worry so much about me sometimes.”

“One day. But not today.” His eyes turn up into little crescents. Aron’s heart twists and beats.

“Let’s call it a day a little early, hm?”

Aron finds himself caving into Minhyun's offer, despite the warning sirens blaring in his head. Fuck it.

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus:   
> After Aron tells Minhyun a story with him as the protagonist would be a "tragedy", Minhyun is silent for a second before throwing himself onto his hyung.
> 
> "Hyung, you're hilarious!" "Minhyun-ah, I'm perfectly serious." "Yeah, but it's so funny!" "You asked for it?!?!"
> 
>   1. A kagune is a ghoul's predatory organ and functions as their weapon and claws. There's many types: stabby, speedy, shieldy, and more!  [▲]
>   2. Ghouls are a carnivorous and cannibalistic humanoid species that are only able to feed on the flesh of humans and other ghouls.  [▲]
>   3. Commission of Counter Ghoul (CCG), was a federal agency in the Tokyo Ghoul series that serves as a criminal investigative body in cases connected to ghouls.  [▲]
> 

> 
> I love writing my ults in tragic situations but I have no idea how to get them out of it or how to progress the story properly so RIP my ass. Anything you wanna see in this series or my Jonghyun!!! on ICE AU? Comment them!
> 
> Here's my [ twitter account ](https://twitter.com/nuestlovebot)! Maybe drop me a comment or a kudos? Thanks!


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